Loss and Reconciliation (DRAFT, may change certain events and figures)
by DispairingWolf
Summary: He is no longer sure what to do. All that fighting, and for what purpose? He hoped to someday find himself for once. But that all changed when the UNSC called all capable Spartan personnel to assist on an operation no one deemed even possible. This Spartan will have to choose between leaving the fighting behind and seek his solace, or prevent the annihilation of a once lost race.
1. Solace Undone

**Solace Undone**

* * *

**H**e remembered all of it. He couldn't decide whether it was good or bad. What they had done to him was unforgivable beyond any measure, but it had given him a fighting chance, and the chance to help humanity prevail in their survival. Without it he would not be alive. But seen just as military hardware it was hard for him to make much contact with others, sometimes it made people wonder if he was even human, having a deep voice made it worse since people never saw his face. He did have several friendships, but something told him they would not last. The Covenant, the alien alliance that nearly wiped out mankind, had killed millions of lives, and many those of whom were close to him. This sometimes angered him, that he would get too attached to the past. It was hard for him being the type of Spartan he was, not to bring it up every time he tried to think of something else.

Now, here he was in an ONI facility, getting ready for a takedown op. Being an assassin that was what he did, and usually worked alone. Back then he used to be a Headhunter and still was technically, but hadn't seen much of it once the Spartan-IV program began in 2553. His armor was also specifically modified to aid him in missions that required great use of stealth. All of it was MJOLNIR GEN2 Powered Assault Armor, what Spartan-IV's use nowadays. The helmet consisted of a Deadeye model; his shoulders Rogue model on the left and a War Master model on his right. His torso made up of a VENATOR class, while his legs were ENFORCER. His primary armor color was steel and his secondary being cyan. He had a PIONEER visor, with a color resembling cyan as well. For his years of being an assassin he was lucky enough to have made it this far; then again most of his tasks were just hit-and-run type situations. But that doesn't make it easy; many other Spartans assigned to assassinate a target usually found in the Covenant were killed, some were taken prisoners and tortured. Those that didn't speak were killed, being all of them as far as he knew.

"Something wrong?" Ryan, an ONI officer and a formal UNSC sergeant walked into the room, making sure all the equipment was working well. The Spartan didn't answer at first, he was still thinking.

"None sir." The Spartan finally said.

"Ready to get back on the job?" asked the officer, staring up at the Spartan. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"A few years I believe," the Spartan said thoughtfully.

"Most of the time was spent in training I presume? Well it'll pay off. We got word from a UNSC ship that will come by to get ready for a search mission of," he paused. "I'll fill you in the details later." He patted the Spartan on the back. "They're taking several Spartan-IV's with them in case things get a little cranky, told them you'd be great for this kind of stuff since you've had experience with the whole hide and seek type deals from your previous missions."

"Do you know which ship it is?" The Spartan stared at Ryan for a moment.

"I didn't catch its name. Once you come back I'll have more information for you. In the meantime, I'd like for you to see someone." Ryan pulled out a data crystal chip from his pocket. "ONI decided to let her accompany you this time, since you and her get along pretty well." The Spartan took the chip and inserted it into his helmet, and a familiar voice began to speak to him.

"How's it going hotshot?" Nikka said, who was the main AI assistant of the Spartan. She had been with with for most of his operations.

"How have you been?" The Spartan smiled inside his helmet. It felt good to have his companion once more.

"ONI's been messing with me for a bit now. They shut me down to keep me in a clean state, otherwise I would have gone into rampancy. It's been awhile since our last adventure," she said, having a smooth tone in her voice.

"Alright. Nikka will assign you any high level Covenant Remnant troop that we know the location of. These guys have been causing some trouble to some of our ships, and we need them to go. Once your target has been eliminated Nikka will bring you back here, and hopefully the ship I was talking about will be here by then. We'll then see your results and see if you need any further training. You are a go." Ryan then stepped out of the room, leaving the Spartan and the AI. Nikka began to locate a target until she had one.

"Initiating takedown operation. Time to prove yourself once more." Nikka began activating the teleporter.

"Half of the UNSC and ONI already know what I'm capable of, it's just been a long time I've been in action." The Spartan looked around the square room, finding nothing but the door behind him, and the equipment that was going to be used to teleport him to a target.

"Maybe with the attitude you have they're not really sure. They don't exactly expect your type of behavior the way it is with you being a Spartan," the AI made him remember of how he felt that both the UNSC and ONI only saw him as a war-machine that was used to accomplish top-level missions. Possibly made just to eliminate any threat to them.

"I only act like this when I'm not in the field," the Spartan thought out loud, realizing Nikka had heard him.

"You are different, no one has ever met a Spartan of your type before. That, I can assure you. Maybe that's why they chose you back then. I'm actually starting to like it," Nikka added a playful tone on that last sentence. "You awake now?" She asked the Spartan, making sure he was ready to start the teleportation unit.

"I always am," the Spartan said, his voice being deep and strong it had a serious tone to it.

"We'll see if that's true," Nikka said, turning on the teleporter.

A sudden white flash covered the Spartan, the room they were in changed. Violet pearlescent metallic walls replaced the casual grey-toned UNSC ones. As soon as this happened the Spartan knew where they were from the large structural form of the room. A Covenant CSO-Class Supercarrier, since at first everything seemed to get bigger and knew the inside of other Covenant ships well.

"What do you think you're doing?" Said the Spartan, standing still with his head tilted slightly to the left as if expecting Nikka to be there so she would see his surprise.

"You never know when you might get inside one of these. Better to be prepared right?" The AI replied chuckling.

"I doubt I'll end up in one, the Covenant Remnant barely have any ships this size because the Covenant itself doesn't exist anymore. Besides, these carry massive infantry that only MAC cannons can deal with, and may I remind you this was the type of vessel that took a major part in destroying Reach." The Spartan pulled out an MA5D Assault Rifle from his back and rested it on his arms so it was aiming upwards. "Who am I looking for?" He began to walk to a doorway on his left.

"Vrul A'Oma, an Elite Commander. Displaying his picture on your HUD now," Nikka paused for a moment before continuing, as the Elite's profile came into view on the Spartan's visor. "He's known for wielding the Energy Sword pretty well."

"That won't save him." The Spartan sounded as if he wasn't entirely sure about that.

"Yep, you're right. You can do better. And you do know almost every high-ranking Elite carries one of those?" Nikka imposed sarcastically to intimidate him.

"At least I can manage to get out alive." He turned sharply around a corner, making sure nothing was around them, since his motion sensor only detected movement.

Everything was clear until he came into a hallway with an Elite with his back turned to him. His rank was minor, judging by the color of his armor which was a medial dark and pale Spartan pulled his combat knife out. Quickly he grabbed the Elite and cut his throat, covering his mouth before he could yell in pain and alert others. Blue-purple colored blood was splattered on the walls, along with a small puddle that formed underneath the Sangheili's throat once his body fell to the floor.

"Movement detected ahead, from what I can tell it's heavy infantry." Nikka exclaimed when the Spartan began to walk again.

"Elites?" The Spartan crouched, trying to look for the hostiles Nikka had mentioned.

"Mgalekgolos," Nikka said with a worried tone in her voice.

"Hunters can be avoided easily if I'm careful enough. I'm known for that. And I can take them down either way." The Spartan reassured the AI.

"It's the part where avoiding them that troubles me, if they spot you they'll shoot their Assault Cannons, and the blast will have most of the ship aware of your presence. This isn't a simulation, just to point that out," Nikka said with the same tone.

The Spartan looked back at the Elite's body, and saw two Plasma Grenades next to his body. He grabbed them, then faced forward again. "Just in case things get out of hand."

The Hunters passed without noticing him, and after he saw they were gone he came out from behind the pillar he took cover in and continued to move forward. "With a ship this size, he could be anywhere. Set a waypoint to his location. Use the ship's communications system and broadcast channels to try and see where he is." The AI did this immediately.

"Got him. He's in the hangar, and apparently leaving the Supercarrier. I'll put the transmission on your HUD." She did so rapidly. The Spartan soon heard the familiar sounds of the Sangheili. Lucky for him, years of fighting the hinge-heads allowed him to understand what they were saying.

"He's making preparations. How long do we have until we reach the hangar?" The Spartan began to run through the hallways until he got to a large corridor.

"ETA three-mikes. You'll have to hurry though," Nikka looked for faster routes than the one they were taking.

"Any hostiles nearby?" The Spartan aimed left and right when he got to another doorway.

"Yes, five of them. Zealots, from what I can tell."

"Is there a way past them?" Red markers began to appear on the Spartan's motion sensor.

"No, I can't find any. Looks like you'll have to deal with them," Nikka replied.

"Maybe we can catch up to the hinge-head in time." Right when the Spartan said this, the Zealots saw him in front of them and the Spartan came to a halt. The five Zealots pulled out Energy Swords, each glowing brightly as the blade gleamed as it came out of the hilt in a rapid succession.

The Spartan threw one of the Plasma Grenade's at the Zealot that was in front of the rest. He missed, but it stuck to the one behind the first Zealot. Two of the other ones, which were side by side, were stunned by the explosion, and another one had its shields flare brightly. The Zealot in front lunged at him with the sword; rolling to the side the Spartan grabbed the Zealot's elbow and broke it. He cried out in pain, giving the Spartan enough time to disarm it. Once he had the sword in his hand he stabbed the Zealot through it's chest, killing it instantly. The two remaining Zealots both threw grenades at him, and quickly reacting before they could explode the Spartan jumped onto one of the Zealot's chest and plunged the sword into it's head, with blood spattering the Spartan's helmet, the grenades behind him exploding just as he did this. When the Spartan stood up the last Zealot swung his sword at him, the Spartan had managed to parry it and sent the Elite back. When the Elite tried to gain its balance once more the Spartan performed an uppercut with his left fist on the head, making him fall on his back. He then grabbed the Elite by his neck.

"Where's Vrul A'Oma going?" The Spartan said sharply. The Elite did not answer at first, in fact he chuckled, giving him the impression as though he was going to keep quiet. To his surprise he spoke, in English as well.

"Your race will be crushed by our feet, you and all the other insects!" The Elite didn't get to say anything else as the Spartan cut its head off with the sword.

"Was that necessary?" imposed Nikka.

"They've done worse things to us," he said, as he ran towards the hangar, the Energy Sword still in his right hand.

"The hangar is close, but Vrul is leaving soon," Nikka displayed a map of the Supercarrier on the Spartan's HUD, showing that it was only thirty meters away.

Suddenly they came across another Hunter, but before the Spartan could do anything it fired its Assault Cannon at them. The Spartan jumped at the last second, and the Fuel Rod made a gap on the wall as soon as it hit it.

"Use the gap to get there! It's directly beneath one of the tunnels!" Nikka exclaimed. The Spartan did so, and got to a spot where the waypoint Nikka had placed was underneath them.

"What now?" The Spartan looked back and dodged another Fuel Rod fired by another Hunter.

"There's an elevator to your right, that should get us to the hangar. Hurry!" Running towards the elevator, the Spartan heard noises made by heavy machinery, and he knew Vrul A'Oma was already in a ship, and was about to leave the Supercarrier. Once the elevator opened he saw the Elite was in a Phantom, and in a quick way to prevent him from leaving he hijacked one of the Wraiths left of him.

"He's leaving!" Nikka yelled as the Spartan climbed on the Wraith.

"No, he isn't." Just as he entered cockpit, the Spartan fired the Wraith's mortar shot, and it hit the Phantom's engines just as it was exiting the shield door in the hangar's exit. Tumbling and bumping with the side of the hangar opening it crashed back into the hangar.

"Not going to lie, thought he was getting away." Nikka said, letting out a large breath when she finished her sentence.

"You thought I would've let him leave?" The Spartan climbed out of the Wraith, and pulling out his Assault Rifle began to shoot at several panicking Grunts that were running around in circles. Once he approached the Phantom, he saw that there was slight movement on his motion sensor. He assumed they were just Grunts. "Think the hinge-head's dead?"

"Chances are he is. But you did just knock out it's engines, the Phantom itself looks intact." The Spartan climbed into the Wraith once more when Nikka said this, and fired several rounds of the mortar before the Phantom exploded into a purple cloud. "Making sure huh?"

"Nope, just getting their crap blown up. Time to head for the Supercarrier's generator. Then I'll know for sure." The Spartan headed back into the elevator in the hangar. "Once I set a grenade in and overload it, teleport us back to the facility. Then we'll see what ONI does with me."

"Better get a move on then, Covenant are approaching the hangar," Nikka said.

The Spartan hid behind cover while the ship's crew went to investigate the hangar and the crash, and made his way again once he made sure no one was left in the corridors. When he finally started getting close to the generator, someone had been awaiting him. The Spartan realized his motion sensor had caught him sneaking out of the crashed Phantom but he had assumed it was a pack of Grunts.

"You were unwise human, to step into this ship. Now, I shall forcefully take your life and perhaps let you live if you accept this fate and surrender, or I kill you with my blade and make waste of your body." Vrul A'Oma was standing in the room that lead down to the generator, holding an Energy Sword.

The Spartan began to fire his Assault Rifle at the Sangheili commander. The Elite, whose energy shields began to flare blue around his body indicating they were taking damage, lunged at the Spartan. The Spartan hopped back, but Vrul's sword had managed to penetrate through his VENATOR armor on his torso and a thick cut formed in his chest. The Spartan made a quick yell of pain and grasped his chest while kneeing down from the impact.

"You...hinge-head...freak," the Spartan looked at his chest and back at Vrul. He then took out the Energy Sword he had taken from the Zealot he had encountered earlier.

"I'm sending us back to the base, this is out of hand." Nikka began to teleport the Spartan, but before the process was complete he shut off the teleporter. Nikka, realizing what he was planning tried to stop him.

"Nikka, I'll get us out of here, but I'm not leaving without a fight." He posed, getting ready to swing. "You're going down you four-jawed freak." The Spartan ran towards Vrul, rage swelling inside him, and swung.

* * *

**So, that was my first chapter and FanFic. In this story I played around with the Spartan, trying to give him a personality that fit a casual Spartan but one I could give a little of my taste. I'd like to know your opinion about it, if it was interesting, good even if it was bad(giving a reason though) since I'd really appreciate reviews of any kind. I intend to make the chapters long, at about 2K to 3K words. Hope you enjoyed this little preview :D**


	2. The Preparations of War

**The Preparations of War**

* * *

**AUGUST 15, 2559**

**1956 HOURS**

**ONI MONITOR FACILITY 20-5**

**A**nger. That was what caused him to miss. Full of rage, the Spartan unsuccessfully attempted to kill Vrul A'Oma. Instead, the Elite Commander had made a large cut on the Spartan's torso, which was causing him to lose blood at a fatal rate. Yet in fact the first thought that came to the Spartan after this was not the wound he had at his left side, but how ONI would qualify him based on this action. They would have to endure his training to prevent this to be repeated. All of this swirled in his head as he slowly lost consciousness, and finally fell on his knees, blood running down his side to the floor. He began to feel light-headed, and his eyesight was fading. He looked up at the Sangheili which he was sure would be the one to finish him after all these years. Vrul raised his Energy Sword back, ready to deliver the last and final blow. The Spartan looked deep into the Sangheili's eyes.

"You're time has come, human. You should be thankful, for I put an end to your misery," Vrul launched the Energy Sword at the Spartan. Wires suddenly burst from the walls, electricity sparks flying all around them, and made contact with his Vrul's armor before he killed the Spartan passing massive amounts of electricity through his armor into his body. Soon Vrul was fried, smoke beginning to emerge from his life-less body.

"I'm sending us back to ONI. You will not carry on, as you are badly injured. I've turned the teleporter back on." Nikka had spoken with an angry-but-glad tone. The Spartan was injured too badly to reply. The teleporter equipped to him began to work again, he assumed Nikka had overridden it. A white flash covered him just as it had previously. Once they were in the ONI facility, the Spartan dropped to the floor, paralyzed from the state of shock he was in after all that had happened to him.

The Spartan had returned to the ONI facility in terrible conditions, as he remembered those few moments on the Supercarrier. His VENATOR chest-piece was damaged beyond repair, and the cut on the left limited his movement capabilities to almost none. Once the personnel saw him, they immediately came to his attention. They used the Medical Scanner on him, checking to see if his wound could be taken care of easily. He was taken to the medical center, where they took his chest-piece off to do so. The wound was deep into his left side, any further and the Energy Sword would have penetrated his rib cage and damaged his lung possibly causing death. After several minutes the medics had taken care of it, they stitched it up since bandages couldn't help on their own. As for his rib cage, there wasn't much they could do there. They took Nikka's data crystal chip from his helmet and gave it to one of the sergeant's there to view the mission report in the debriefing room. After talking and looking over the information and results with Nikka, Ryan came in to check on the Spartan who was still on the operating table.

"Still getting yourself into trouble huh?" Ryan gave a small smirk, as he sat down in a chair next to him. "You were lucky Nikka was there. In fact what she did surprised me. I'll let you talk to her once you're ready." He left the room he the Spartan was being kept in. The Spartan waited for a few minutes before standing up again. He had regained his senses, but the wound still hurt when he tried to move. He shrugged the pain off.

"What did I miss?" The Spartan came into the doorway of the debriefing room Nikka found herself. Nikka was in her holographic form.

"Nothing much," said Nikka, who was smiling to see the Spartan up.

"What was that back there?" The Spartan walked to the holo-projector on the table in the middle of the room. "I've never seen that before."

"It was simple. Vrul A'Oma's armor allowed me to access the Supercarrier's controls, since he was standing close enough for me to hack into it," Nikka projected a three-dimensional model of Vrul A'Oma's armor and then displayed another model of the ship's power circulating around it. "Once I used his communicator channels to get into the controls of the ship, I overloaded the generator with power from all over the Supercarrier causing the ship to explode after we left because of the unstable energy left behind. I then overrided the power and used the circuitry through the walls to explode making holes big enough for electricity in the walls to pass, and since his armor is a perfect conductor it traveled onto it and passed on to his body killing him. You made it however because you were far from the reach of the sparks." Nikka explained this using models she made to represent everything.

"You did all of this knowing there was a possibility we would not survive, yet you took that risk," the Spartan said, staring directly at the AI which was smiling.

"It was either that or I watched Vrul A'Oma decapitate you in front of me. Obviously you know why I risked it," Nikka said, putting her hands together as she finished talking, still with a smirk on her face.

"But that swing, I missed it," the Spartan looked up from Nikka's place. "I missed it because I let anger take hold of me."

"Everyone gets angry at some point," Nikka said, tilting her head sideways, her brows moved into the position that said she wasn't sure why the Spartan mentioned this.

"It nearly got me killed, and I still have to see what ONI has to say about that," Ryan came into the room as the Spartan said this.

"You two catch up yet?" he said, with a serious look on his face.

"Do you have my results?" the Spartan asked.

"I do, but I'm not the one who decides if you're ready or not." Ryan moved aside to reveal Admiral Murray, the facility's main head. His hair was a grayish color with hints of black, his skin was pale with a few wrinkles now and there. His eyes were a deep brown. He seemed to be in his middle-ages.

"Hello Spartan. I've see you've been busy with this last op. I have just come from a little conversation I had with an officer, so I'll need to make this quick," Murray said with a smooth tone. "I have analyzed your results. I've decided you are fully capable of entering service once more. But, however, we saw that you missed a sword lunge at your target because you were angered, it's rare to see something like this in the field," Murray kept his voice calm and his face steady. "None the less, after reading your reports and file you have exceeded our expectation. You're ready." Ryan looked back at the Spartan and smiled.

"Remember the ship from before? We got word it'll come to pick you up pretty soon, in fact it's just a few kilometers away from the atmosphere. A Pelican will come down and take you aboard," Ryan said with a delighted tone. "I'll take you to the hangar." The Spartan took Nikka's crystal chip and inserted it in his helmet, which had stayed on him during the surgery since it helped carry oxygen faster to him. The four began to make way to the hangar, which the Spartan would see how full it was of various aircrafts.

"The ship is setting up several Fireteams made up of Spartan-IV's, or in your case that have been recruited in the program. We contacted the ship when it was making its way here letting them know you were available. They've picked up a few other Spartans they came across," Admiral Murray said, looking forward. "Some of them I've heard you met before," he made a gesture with his hand towards the Spartan.

"Who?" The Spartan said swiftly.

"I'll let you see for yourself," the Admiral said this as they reached the hangar's elevator. Once they went in, the hind of the elevator had glass that allowed them to view the hangar in full perspective. "This facility is older than I am, and trust me, I am old, yet this place does a better job at keeping itself together than I do." Once the elevator door opened, they walked to the right of the hangar, where several Pelicans were lined up. A Marine near the first Pelican saw the Admiral, and began to talk to him.

"Who's the big guy?' The Marine shook his head to the right.

"Sergeant Ryan," the Admiral gestured to him.

"I meant the Spartan," the Marine pointed at the super-soldier.

"106," he replied, looking at him. "He's from the early days."

"You didn't mention-" He was interrupted by the Admiral.

"He's capable; and besides, he's already been recruited in the Spartan-IV program."

"Alright, well at least he's been trained and familiarized. Not a whole lot of them are left you know. ONI wants to make sure the last of 'em can still mentor the others," the Marine let them pass to proceed to the Pelicans. "Hey, can I get an autograph sometime?" the soldier said as he tugged the Spartan's right arm.

"Not now Marine," Murray yelled back.

"Doesn't hurt to be a fan," the Marine went pack to his position.

They all walked up to the third Pelican of the ten that were stationed on the right. "Alright you three, you're up next." The Pelican's hatch-door was already open, revealing a few ODST's and Spartan-IV's on the seats on the sides. The Spartan climbed aboard, and Ryan had followed behind him.

"I'm coming as well. They want me to watch you." Ryan grinned once he turned back to look at him.

"Glad you could come anyway," said the Spartan, as he sat down in one of the seats.

"I'm sure you are." Ryan gave him one of his classy smirks. The pilot addressed the passengers that they would take off in a short while. "In the meantime, how about I let ya know what's been going on these past years..."

"I can't wait," Ryan could tell the only thing the Spartan loved the most was sitting next to him for 5 minutes and listening to his absurd abundant questions.

* * *

**45 MINUTES EARLIER...**

"Are you sure about him?" The facility's officer asked, as he looked at several files on a datapad.

"He's not the only one from those days who's still in action. You are aware of that I presume?" Admiral Murray replied.

"I am also aware that all of them underwent mild sociopathic tendencies Admiral," the officer looked up to him. "Social outcasts, if you will."

"Yet they still get the job done officer, and I'm pretty sure you already know there's no arguing with that," Murray spoke in an imperative tone as if telling the officer he should not talk back.

"They have sensitive emotions Admiral, and this one nearly got himself killed if it hadn't been for that AI. And you entrusted him with a Fireteam? Not to mention a recruit? What will happen out there on the field if this gets out of hand?" the officer said this as if the issue held the fate of the UNSC at hand, but the Admiral wanted him to see there was nothing to worry about if he would shut up and listen to him.

"Give them time, they've proven us many things these past decades. Helping us prevail from what the UNSC was sure would become humanity's downfall was one you should already familiarize yourself with," said the Admiral with a light tone, taunting the officer.

The officer wiped the left side of his face with his hand as if trying to show the Admiral he had proven a point, but he was still looking for a reason to state that his decision wasn't very bright.

"I have to go now Diaz. I have to get him in the hangar and up to the Glory Rival soon. We'll continue our nice little chat when I return," said the Admiral as he left the room.

"You better be sure about this Murray. I'm putting my trust in you," said Officer Diaz, as he sat down on one of the chairs in the room.

* * *

"You ever hit on women?" Ryan asked the Spartan as they prepared for take-off.

"No, Ryan. I don't 'hit' on women," the Spartan was already losing his patience.

"You don't? What about Spartan-women, you ever hit on them?" Ryan asked with a soft tone. "Let me guess, not your type. Well, they are taller than me so...they probably have something wrong with them."

"Ryan, I've been gone for two years. When would I have been able to hit on anyone?" The Spartan tried to sound serious, but since his helmet hid all emotion from everyone but himself Ryan continued.

"All personnel onboard, prepare for take-off," the pilot said through the comm, and for the first time in a few years the Spartan was in the air again. The full-throttle of the engines as they reached the atmosphere began to cause him to shake since he wasn't used to it. Everyone else, including Ryan, seemed as if it were another stroll in the park. The Pelican finally got out of the planet's atmospheric layer allowing it to navigate smoothly.

"Approaching LZ. Landing in two-mikes," announced the pilot, as everyone else kept seated with little dialogue in between them after take-off. Until finally, Ryan spoke up.

"Ever been in that type of ship?" asked Ryan, pointing to the cockpit in which this case the Spartan was able to see through the opened cabin door and through the blastshield.

"Haven't seen one of those in a long time," the Spartan said, once he took a glance at it he was surprised.

"Marathon-Class Heavy Cruiser. Not too shabby is it?" Ryan leaned forward from his seat, playing around with his hands.

"Weren't all of them nearly-" Ryan finished his sentence.

"Destroyed? Yeah, they were. Only a handful are left. This one though, it was meant to go into service during the final years of the war. But it was never commissioned until now."

The Pelican came down into the large hangar bay of the ship, and once they landed the hatch-door opened revealing crew members and cargo from all over the place. They came out, ODST's and Spartan-IV's, one by one. Ryan and the Spartan were the last to exit. The Spartan was surprised at how many people were there as a search party for whatever the ship was looking for.

"I've missed a lot haven't I?" said the Spartan as they walked through the hangar.

"That's what I tried to tell you. The search they set up may be a pretty big deal to the UNSC. Just hoping ONI doesn't get carried away with this. Last thing we need," Ryan said. "I have to go meet up with one of the commanders, make sure things are going well. Inform myself too. In the meantime you can have a look around." Ryan made his way to one of the hangar entrances, leaving the Spartan to wonder at the cruiser. The Spartan had heard and seen many of these types of cruisers before, but he was never assigned to one.

"Haven't seen you before," he heard a voice say as he pinpointed it, and saw it was one out of the many Spartan-IV's there was onboard. He was wearing the MJOLNIR GEN2 PAA|RECRUIT armor, being the default steel color with orange high-lights and recruit visor. He was sitting on top of the cargo crates that read 'Spartan Arsenal', with one of his arms resting on top of his knee. From what the Spartan could tell by his voice he was in his early 30's.

"Been out service for a time." The Spartan stood still, seeming as if the Spartan-IV was just another part of the ship.

"Huh, never heard of a Spartan being released until a moment's notice," he said, sitting up straight. "You'll have to show me how someday. This isn't easy, especially after all that Forerunner-Covenant Remnant crap these past years. Name's Aethelhaze, but just call me Aethel."

"Good to meet you. As for that previous request, it would take a while to get used to everything that's going on if I do show you," the Spartan said nimbly.

"You sure as hell look like the big types. What'd you do?" asked Aethel, leaning forward and putting his hands together.

"I see jerk-off here has you in his view. I'm Dihmant," said another Spartan coming up behind Aethel.

"You ruined my moment egghead," said Aethel, standing up once Dihmant came to face them.

"When aren't you in your moment?" Dihmant glanced at him. Dihmant was wearing a GEN2 ENGINEER class armor, same colors as Aethel.

"You two part of a squad or team?" the Spartan asked.

"Fireteam, to be precise. We both trained together ever since we were little. They assigned me for the search due to my high reputation," replied Aethel, putting his hands to his sides.

"They assigned US due to OUR high reputation dumbass. You're not that special." Dihmant gave a friendly punch to Aethel's shoulder.

"I was in both before," the Spartan said, trying not to be bothered by the Spartan-IV's childish behaviour. But later I was released from duty for two years."

"Well, I guess you've seen a lot since then," Aethel said before walking towards the rest of the Spartan-IV's around the hangar. "I'm gonna meet up with the rest of the crew."

Once Aethel left, Dihmant took the chance to talk with the Spartan.

"Where'd they put you during these years?"

"It's hard to explain," the Spartan said. "Sometimes I was in cryo, or they just had me completing very small tasks unrelated to what went on at the time. But I'm somehow not able to remember. It was ONI, however, that kept me."

"ONI has a hard reputation, they do the right thing in the bad way. Sometimes no good even comes out. They started the civil war between the hinge-heads," Dihmant said, as he crossed his arms. "By the way, since you haven't told us who you are, why are you here?"

"It's a long story." The Spartan gazed at Dihmant's visor.

"You can start by telling me your name."

"That's classified," the Spartan looked away from Dihmant and back to the hangar's prosperities.

"Ha, my ass. Could you at least tell me anything you took part in before?"

The Spartan hesitated. Dihmant was acting like a child. Curious and too self provoked. Probably full of himself as well. To answer to him made the Spartan feel like his self-perspective would wash away. "I formed part of the Raptor division, a team that took part in anything and everything. Each member had the same skill as the other, and those skills were some of the highest to ever be achieved. It was a multi-operational team formed by Spartans. Then we got assigned to different squads. Eventually we disbanded. They made me keep the division's name however, since I lead it in the first place."

"What made this division so special? If you don't mind telling me." Dihmant was leaving his casual behaviour and became interested in the topic. The Spartan saw this and decided to tell him, even though protocol says otherwise.

"Well, we were all trained by Franklin Mendez." The Spartan spoke in a low serious tone indicating seriousness.

"Mendez...I've heard that name before. He trained the-" Dihmant's pondering glance soon turned from the floor as he realized the Spartan's classification.

"As for my name, all I will give is this; Raptor-106, and I'm a Spartan-II."


End file.
